# Top 5 Product and Management skills: SQL, Excel, Clear Communication, Story, Prioritization

DevFeed: [Top 5 Product and Management skills: SQL, Excel, Clear Communication, Story, Prioritization](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/top-5-product-and-management-skills-sql-excel-clear-communication-story-prioritization-41226.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.craigkerstiens.com/2021/04/27/Top-5-Product-and-Management-skills-SQL-Excel-Clear-Communication-Story-Prioritization/>)

Author: Map

Published: 2021-04-27T21:30:56Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Craig Kerstiens](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/craig-kerstiens.md>)

Topics: [Product Management](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/product-management.md>), [SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sql.md>)

Tags: [analysis](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/analysis.md>), [communication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/communication.md>), [philosophies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/philosophies.md>), [product-management](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/product-management.md>), [sql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sql.md>)

## AI overview

This opinion article discusses five skills the author associates with product and management work: SQL, Excel, clear communication, storytelling, and prioritization. It particularly emphasizes SQL for analyzing customer and cohort data, and Excel for examining information and supporting decisions.

## Source excerpt

A few months ago there was a tweet from @jasoncwarner about leadership skills/super powers: SQL Excel Concise writing Story telling Prioritization. I've spent quite a bit of time in product management roles, and in recent years more in leadership. I've found a lot of the skills in product to translate into good leadership skills as well, but maybe I'm bluring the lines there. Regardless, with his 5 skills I found myself nodding and have written about each of these some on my blog and then at times on twitter. He long since deleted the tweet, and while I wait for him to republish I thought I'd reprise a few of these with my own view point. SQL Yeah, I'm a "database" person. But not really, I'm a product person. But if I want to answer a question about what our customers are doing 9 times out of 10 the answer to that question is hiding inside a SQL database. If it's not in a SQL database they've made a SQL like interface to access that data. If you want to feel like you have some magical super power that probably none of your peers posses pick up SQL. How many people working in React know SQL? Know many people that write Go know SQL? Same question if you know Ruby. The insights into how many users created their freemium account 3 months ago, but then converted to paying within 30 days, vs converted to paying after 30 days for a cohort analysis of fast converters vs. slow converters I can probably write in SQL before you've parsed what I'm trying to get at and started to write in any other language. That type of insight is powerful. Now if you think of how many people on a product team, or a management team know SQL-you're in a unique position. It really is a super power Excel This one is more common with MBAs and business types, but nonetheless is still valuable. While I love SQL, a pivot table in SQL isn't quite the same. There are absolutely people that can spin circles around me in Excel (looking at you @rstephensme). But Excel is way more broad reaching a programm